Untitled

epresentations, images and destinations we see a different one, tucked
away in the shelter of theory and protected from the high North.
Having explored the destination on the plateaux from the outside we
ascend to the base of the tri peaks of tourism theory in chapter 3. We
explore their base and thence set out our first attempt at research method,
laying the best trail for those yet to come through here. Instead of climbing
each peak, we see that the same altitude can be gained East and we see a
glimpse of an even higher peak, shrouded in fog.
Ascending further we can now get a view over the island and start to
realise how tourism works both in the world and on the Earth. Issues of
globalisation, climate change and sustainability gain relevance from this
privileged vantage point. In chapter 4 we thus explore these as we move
around the base of the fog-clad peak. We are now outside the habitable
realm of tourism resort development and see those we have explored and
those yet to be explored at a distance.
As we move towards an earthly tourism research agenda in chapter
5, we see how ultimately tourism becomes less another resort development
or a different social slice, and more “a total trip problem” of
imaginationing matter-movements on and of the Earth. As the fog lifts
from the peak we envision a need for Earth led priorities and perspective
when exploring tourism imaginationings. The Island of tourism and tourist
imaginationings, that every tourism scholar is bound to travel through, is
indeed more than what it appears to be.
11